What does "tap" mean?
A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
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"When Steve felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned around."
"According to the Yunani hakims dengue is a "tap safrow"—a fever due to excess of bile, and it is wonderful the amount of dark colored bile that passes away after a purgative, especially if that is not administered until the third day."
"For to the first floor his duties never took him, at this period, nor to the second, once he had made his bed, and swept clean his little room, which he did every morning the first thing, before coming down, on an empty stomach. Whereas Erskine never did a tap on the ground floor, but all his duties were on the first floor."
"We don’t have bottled water; you’ll have to get it from the tap."
"abdominal tap pleural tap spinal tap"
"a liquor of the same tap"
"telephone tap"
"She had a good figure, was twenty-one, five-feet-five, hair probably brown (dyed blond), brown cloth coat, rabbit-skin collar, cotton print dress, brown calf shoes (heel taps a little run over), scuff on the right toe."
"bond tap tap issue"
"Now, until you get to wearing block shoes, the same sandals do for everything except tap, and the world doesn't come to an end if you just wear your tunic knickers and a shirt for tap; but when we could get the stuff there was all that changing into rompers, and we'd special satin sandals for ballet. It was change, change, all the time."
"We drilled a hole and then cut the threads with the proper tap to match the valve’s thread."
"[H]ere has been nothing but canting and praying ſince the fellovv entered the place.—Rabbit him! the tap vvill be ruined—vve han't ſold a caſk of beer, nor a dozen of vvine, ſince he paid his garniſh—the gentlemen get drunk vvith nothing but your damned religion.— […]"
"The system was barely keeping pressure due to all of the ill-advised taps along its length."
"There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop—though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's."
"She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention."
"He tapped the ten-year-old whiskey from its barrel."
"We are certainly scented here, and I walk about like a barrel of beer at Christmas, under hourly apprehension of being tapped!"
"It is a hard thing to empty the vvater contained in the breaſt, becauſe the vvaies are not open by vvhich it ſhould be brought forth. Therefore Hippocrates doth adviſe to open the ſide, vvhich becauſe vve never ſee practiſed, and never read in any Author that it vvas done vvith good ſucceſs, vve cannot abſolutely approve; and vve may ſpeak of it as vve have of the Opening or Tapping for the Dropſie, in its proper Chapter."
"I would tap that hot girl over there."
"Businesses are trying to tap the youth market."
"Heard that, too, Rose said. A thirtyeight revolver. Only you tapped him with a rifle from a hundred yards out."
"At the range of a couple of hundred yards we emptied our magazines, firing bullet after bullet into the beasts, but with no more effect than if we were pelting them with pellets of paper. Their slow reptilian natures cared nothing for wounds, and the springs of their lives, with no special brain centre but scattered throughout their spinal cords, could not be tapped by any modern weapons."
"You can pay by tapping your card."
"I tried to tap a cigarette off him, but he wouldn’t give me one."
"Next, tap on the browser to get on the internet."
"They can’t tap the phone without a warrant."
"The therapist tapped him when he was overcome by anxiety."
"Hard to believe Kimo [Leopoldo] used a triangle choke to tap [Kazushi] Sak[uraba], but 4 years can make a difference."
"I think there's an expression in poker. I'll tap you, Mr. Maverick."
"Tap the Save Image button to save the picture in your iPod touch or iPhone photo library (in the Saved Images album) or tap Cancel to cancel."
"to tap shoes"
"Tap an M3 thread all the way through the hole."
"He was tapped by the president to act as a special counsel."
"The tree was swaying in the breeze and tapping on the window pane."
"Our England for ever! Ten thouſand French, my brave Lad! I am going to tap avvay directly."
"He tapped on the Whatsapp icon on his phone."
"Ile entertaine Bardolfe. He ſhall tap, he ſhall dravv."
"A certain country gentleman began to tap upon the first information he received of sir Roger's death: when he sent me up word that, if I would get him chosen in the place of the deceased, he would present me with a barrel of the best October I had ever drank in my life."
"[A] Bore ſcreameth: a Hare & a Cony beateth or tappeth: a Fox barketh: […] when they ſeeke or hunt after their mates."
"Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener."
A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
Common synonyms include: pat, rap, spigot, abridge, access, adjutage.
Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.
Pronounced /tæp/.
The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tapa. The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obtain (liquid) from a tap”), and then either: * from Old English tæppa (see above) + -ian (suffix forming verbs); or * from Proto-Germanic *tappōną, from *tappô (noun) (see above). Verb etymology 1 sense 1.3.5 (“to turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round”) alludes to the abilities or resources of the card or piece having been drawn on to the point of temporary exhaustion: see verb etymology 1 sense 1.3.2.
The verb is derived from Middle English tappen, teppen (“to give (something) a knock or tap; to hit (something) lightly, pat, tap”), either: * imitative of the making of a tapping sound; or * from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”) (modern French taper), from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”), or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to rap, strike, tap”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dab- (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰebʰ- (“to beat, strike; to stun; to be speechless”). Doublet of dab. Verb etymology 2 sense 1.1.1 (“to arrest (someone)”) and etymology 2 sense 1.6 (“to choose or designate (someone) for a duty, etc.”) allude to a police officer or other person tapping someone on their shoulder to catch their attention or to select them. The noun is derived from Middle English tap, tappe (“light blow or hit”), and then either: * from Middle English tappen (verb) (see above); or * from Old French tape (“light slap or touch, pat”) (modern French tape), from tapper, taper (verb) (see above). Cognates * German tappen (“to fumble; to grope”) * Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”)
From Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).